My photographic adventures on the other side of the world

July 30, 2018

Capturing coastlines

After finishing up my work commitments in Bilbao, Kathrin flew over to join me and we got into holiday mode. Not wanting to stay in the city the whole time, I did a bit of research to see if there were any attractions that were reasonably accessible by public transport from Bilbao and we quickly settled on a day trip to the coast. Our destination was the town of Mundaka and surrounds and, after a very relaxed breakfast, we headed over to the local metro station and got on our way.

Mundaka lies on the edge of the Biosphere Reserve of Urdaibai, which was one of the main draws of the location for us, but we ended up spending the majority of our time there walking along the coastline enjoying the views and the fresh scent of the ocean. This is something that I have missed greatly since moving to Europe and these days I try to take every opportunity I can to spend time on the coast.

Given such allure to the ocean, it is little surprise that it features heavily in my images from that day. The action of the wave against the rocks and the resultant surf and spray make a popular motif for photography, particularly in long exposure landscape work. For me personally, such motives remain a source of inspiration and I always seem to be able to fashion a photo that I like out of seemingly simple or ‘unphotogenic’ scenes.

On arriving in Mundaka the weather remained heavily overcast and both Kathrin and I were captivated by the view toward the estuary and the soft blue-greens of the ocean. My focus in making the following images was to communicate the beauty of the ocean on that day and, in particular, the subtleties of its colours. This meant that it was always the main element in the images and I tried to complement it by framing it with the dark rocks along the coastline. I also felt that taking long exposures would help in simplifying the texture of the ocean and so bring the tiny colour variations in the water to the fore.

The following two photos and the second one in particular, were taken as the clouds began to clear and more sunlight fell on the landscape. The blue-greens in the water began to be lost to the reflected blue of the sky.

I didn’t just come back with photos of the coastline, however. Mundaka also has a number of historical buildings and during my research online I found images of the Chapel of Santa Catalina perched high above the waves. I knew then that regardless of whatever else we saw on the day, I’d take some time to visit the Chapel and see if I could make my own artistic interpretation of it. With the heavy, yet well-defined clouds packing the sky, I naturally turned to high contrast black and white and attempted to increase the 3D-look of the image by playing with local brightness levels. To my eyes the chapel appears to thrust out from the background and completes the effect I was looking to create.